Two dozen Wrangell residents gather for a moment of prayer and reflection the evening of August 19, opposing the violence seen in Charlottesville, Virginia, the previous weekend. On August 12 protester Heather Heyer was killed after a car was driven into the crowd. Nineteen others were injured in the attack.
A group of Wrangell residents joined together for peace and solidarity near Front Street last Saturday.
A community peace vigil was organized in response to violence a week earlier during a rally and counter-protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. A gathering of white supremacists, members of the "alt-right" movement and neo-Nazis in the college town was planned for August 12, called "Unite the Right." The rally was intended to protest the planned removal of a statue commemorating Confederate general Robert E. Lee from a downtown park.
As it included members of the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis, the event drew sizable counter-protests. While mostly peaceful, sporadic violence broke out between the groups, involving projectiles, flags, gas and pepper spray. Virginia's governor declared a state of emergency, with law enforcement officials dispersing crowds ahead of the planned rally.
Things came to a head when a car was driven into a group of counter-protestors, injuring 19 and killing one. The alleged driver, Ohio resident James Fields, has since been arrested for the attack and charged with murder. Two police officers were also killed while patrolling the event when their helicopter crashed.
Following these tragedies and the surrounding circumstances, Wrangell residents Vivian Prescott and Mary Campbell organized a vigil for August 19, to be held at sundown at the Front Street pavilion. Similar vigils were held across the country, and regionally included the communities of Juneau and Sitka.
"The vigil was organized in response to the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the violence that happened," Prescott explained. "I think people felt helpless (afterward)," and the interfaith event was an outlet for people to express themselves.
About 25 people took part, shielded from the weekend's unrelenting rainfall by the covered pavilion. Their candlelight vigil saw remarks, prayers and songs from the local Episcopal, Lutheran and Bahá'í congregations, as well as members of Wrangell Cooperative Association. There were songs as well, and residents had the opportunity to share their sentiments.
"Wrangellites support diversity, unity and love, and condemn white supremacy," Prescott had said. "We will not stay silent in the face of racist demonstrations, antiSemitism, violence, and hate toward any peoples based upon their skin, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or identification. Silence in this moment is a detrimental act against our vulnerable individuals and citizens, our fellow Wrangellites."
The remarks and statements of Alaska's first lady Donna Walker, Sen. Dan Sullivan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski were also read.
"My hope is that we as Alaskans will be profoundly impacted by these recent events and that we will work with greater determination and readiness for all that is good, just, fair, and right," Walker's read. "Let us rise up to the challenge to make Alaska and America what they ought to be, and let Alaska lead the way."
Reader Comments(0)